So MORE NEW DEBT...
"In a measure that should free up $800,000 for the cash-strapped MetroCentre, aldermen authorized the sale of up to $8.1 million in bonds.
The bonds would be used to restructure debt in the city redevelopment fund by deferring payments on principal until 2014..."
Gee that's SWELL...
And HERE'S more...
"The agreement would:

* Provide city operating subsidies of $1.2 million this fiscal year and $1.1 million and $1 million in subsequent years.

* Forgive the MetroCentre from having to pay for its $486,000-a-year share of renovations debt service, but would require repayment of a $456,000 loan from 2007 and a $600,000 loan from this year.

* Require the MetroCentre to make $300,000 in spending reductions from its roughly $9.5 million plan sustained for the life of the agreement. The MetroCentre Authority would have 120 days from approval of the agreement to make the spending reductions.

* Require the MetroCentre to explore placing the downtown arena under private management.
..."
And Cryin'Brian Luther balked over that $300,000....what a joke....I originally thought they were cutting $300,000 A YEAR...but out of $9.5MILLION seems pretty lame...is THAT what this Council calls "accountability"????
And then,there's Joe and Frank....
"

Saying a proposed operating agreement between the City Council and the MetroCentre doesn't provide enough accountability, Ald. Joe Sosnowski, R-1, calls for shortening the term of the deal from three years to one.

"We want to be able to review the operations and what's going on annual basis," he said.

And the co-chair of the committee which drafted the agreement says the deal shouldn't be signed at all, at least until more is known about the future of Rockford's venues and festivals, currently under study.

"If we're going to work with (the MetroCentre), we have to have all the facts on the table so we know, boys and girls, what in the world's going on," Ald. Frank Beach, R-10, said...."

GOOD...good for them....

I'll be glad to retract my previous characterization of Sosnowski as a "LarryBot"....(.as long as he stands his ground)......and Frank,he's typically quite reasonable.....GOOD...good for them....

Should be an interesting night........